Combined mounter and dispenser for photo mounting corners



July 5, 1966 w, c s 3,259,270

COMBINED MOUNTER AND DISPENSER FOR PHOTO MOUNTING CORNERS Filed Sept.24, 1963 FIG-4.50)

55 VV/LL/AM J. Ear/(1.55

BY I Eon/A20 0. OER/AM ArraEA/fy United States Patent 3,259,270 COMBINEDMOUNTER AND DISPENSER FOR PHOTO MOUNTING CORNERS William J. Eckles, 1117S. Cambridge St., Anaheim, Calif. Filed Sept. 24, 1963, Ser- No. 311,0383 Claims. (Cl. 221-1) This application is directed to a packaging devicewhich carries photo mounting corners from the manufacturer through thedealer to the ultimate consumer. The device holds the photo mountingcorners in position while they are being mounted on a corner of aphotograph and thendispenses them as mounted on the corner.

Photo mounting corners are inexpensive items of commerce which arewidely used by the populace in mounting photographs in albums.Conventionally photo mounting corners are sold in boxes or envelopes,and when it is desired to mount a photograph, such mounting corners aredumped out on a table and picked up one at a time and mounted on thephoto corners. Thereupon the adhesive on the corners is moistened andthe corners are applied to a page of a photo album for a retention ofthe photo therein. It easily is seen that this system offers numerousdisadvantages. When the mounting corners are dumped out on a table, theyare at random and half of them are face down in an unuseable position.Of the remaining half, a substantial number are oriented in theincorrect position so that they must be rotated before they can bepicked up and applied to a photo corner. Many of the corners aretelescoped into each other causing much manual manipulation before theyare useable. After the mounting of photos has been completed, all of theremaining photo corners must be collected and dumped back into theoriginal receptacle for retention for future use. Much time is wasted inpicking up, orienting, holding and returning to their receptacle thephoto mounting corners in present day usage.

Accordingly it is an object of this invention to provide a combinedmounter and dispenser for photo mounting corners which carries suchphoto mounting corners in an accessible position for immediate use.

It is another object of this invention to provide such a mounter anddispenser which holds photo mounting corners with sufficient rigiditythat the combined mounter and dispenser can be used as a tool to mountthe corner upon a photo in correct orientation thereon, and the mounterand dispenser then releases the corner while mounted upon the photo andimmediately presents a new corner available for mounting.

It is another object of this invention to provide an economic combinedmounter and dispenser for photo mounting corners so that photo mountingcorners can be presented to the consumer in a more useful packagingwithout a substantial increase in cost to the consumer.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent upon the study of thefollowing specification and upon reference to the attached drawings inwhich:

FIGURE 1 is an isometric view of the entire mounter and dispenser ofthis invention;

FIGURE 2 is an isometric view of the follower block used in this mounterand dispenser;

FIGURE 3 is a front elevation of the combined mounter and dispenser;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation of the device of this invention;

FIGURE 5 is a top plan view of the device of this invention;

FIGURE 6 is a longitudinal cross section taken from top to bottom of thedevice of this invention;

FIGURE 7 is a plan view of the cardboard blank used in making thisdevice; and

' adhesive end to curl.

3,259,270 Patented July 5, 1966 FIGURE 8 is a view showing the device ofthis invention in use.

As an aid to understanding this invention it can be stated inessentially summary form that it concerns the structure of a combinedmounter and dispenser for carrying and mounting photo mounting corners,and dispensing photo mounting corners onto the corners of photos. Thematerial from which this device is made may be either card stock asshown, or the device may be injection molded of suitable polymercomposition material. The device is of suitable cross section and ishollow to receive the photo mounting corners in stacked relationship.However the right angle cross section of the device is not equal to theprojected plan area of the photo mounting corner, but it is smaller thanthis projected plan area. Accordingly the device requires that the photomounting corners lie at an angle with respect to the axis of the device.The dispensing end of the device has a stop which prevents the stackfrom issuing in gross therefrom, but has sufficient open area to permita photo corner to be inserted into the photo mounting corner within thedispenser. Projecting surfaces engage the photo mounting corner while itis in this position and aid in stabilizing it and holding it while thecorner of a photo is being inserted therein. The open configuration issuch that after the corner is properly mounted on the photo the cornereasily slips from the device. An angular faced follower block isprovided to urge the corners forward so that one is always in accessibleposition for mounting.

A more detailed understanding of this invention will be had upon studyof the following portion of this specification wherein the combinedmounter and dispenser for photo mounting corners is described in detailwith respect to the drawings.

A photo mounting corner is a device particularly adapted and designedfor the mounting of photographs in albums. To accomplish this result, itis necessary for the mounting corner to grasp the photograph and to besecured to the album page. For securement to the page, the photomounting corners are provided with a large rear area which is coatedwith adhesive, or is adapted to be adhesively secured to the album page.This rear area terminates in a right angle which corresponds to thecorner of the photograph. A margin is secured to this right angle insuch a way as to form a right angle pocket for the reception of thecorner of a photograph. Thus when the photograph has each of its cornersmounted in the pocket of a photo mounting corner and the photo mountingcorners are adhesively secured to the album page, the photo is securedto the album page. It can be seen from this description that the pocketportion of the photo mounting corners is of double thickness in order toprovide the pocket, and that the larger area of single thickness isdevoted to adhesive securement. This construction makes the pocket endof greater thickness than the adhesive end, and the adhesive normallyapplied to the back of such photo mounting corners normally causes theThis particular construction of photo mounting corners particularly aidstheir dispensing from the combined mounter and dispenser of the instantinvention.

When the combined mounter and dispenser is to be made of card stock, ablank 10 as shown in FIGURE 7 is the starting part. The blank ispreferably die cut to the particular configuration shown and is markedwith suitable score lines for creasing, as shown in dashed linestherein. The largest area of the blank 10 is top 12 which is defined bythe lower margin 14 of the blank 10, score lines 16 and 18 and by foldscore line 20. Stop 22 is located on the opposite side of score line 20and shares the score lines 16 and 18. The score line 16 defines a tab 24on the stop 22 and score line 18 defines a tab 26 on the stop 22. Sides28 and 30 adjoin the top and are respectively separated therefrom bymeans of score lines 16 and 18. Bases 32 and 34 respectively adjoinsides 28 and 30 and are separated therefrom by score lines 36 and 38.Adjoining the base 32 is lap 40 which is separated therefrom by means ofscore line 42.

From the blank of FIGURE 7 the combined mounter and dispenser for photomounting corners is formed by appropriate folding along these scorelines and adhesive securement of the tabs and lap. Considering the blankof FIGURE 7 as being viewed from the interior of the finished device,the sides 28 and 30 are folded up at right angles along the score lines16 and 18 with respect to the top 12. Thereupon the bases 32 and 34 arefolded at an approximate 45 angle with respect to the sides along thescore lines 36 and 38. Thereupon the lap 40 is folded at substantiallyright angles to the base 32 along the score line 42 and is securedadhesively to the base 34. Tabs 24 and 26 are then folded at rightangles with respect to stop 22, stop 22 is folded at an obtuse anglewith respect to the top 12 and the tabs 24 and 26 are then respectivelyadhesively secured to the sides 28 and 30 to hold the stop 22 is placeas is shown in FIGURE 1.

As previously noted, the cross section of this device, see FIGURE 3,does not equal the projected area of the photo mounting corners to beused therein. The distance between the sides 28 and 30 is slightlygreater than the transverse dimension of the photo mounting corners, butthe distance between the apex of the bases 32 and 34 to the top 12 doesnot equal but is less than the correspond ing dimension of the photomounting corners. This construction requires that the photo mountingcorners lie within the device at an angle. The angle generallycorresponds at the front of the stack of photo mounting corners to theangle at the ends of the bases 32 and 34. It is noted that the bases 32and 34 extend beyond the sides 28 and 30 to provide flanges 44 and 46which retain the first photo mounting corner in position in this device.

As seen in FIGURE 6, photo mounting corners 48 are located within thecombined mounter and dispenser. The apexes thereof, which are of doublethickness and contain the pocket for reception of the photo corner, aremounted downward as shown in this figure and are toward the junction ofthe two bases 32 and 34. In order to prevent the photo mounting cornersfrom coming out of the wrong end, and in order to keep the corners 48compressed within the mounter and dispenser, a follower block or aback-up block 50 is inserted therein at the end corresponding to themargin 14. The block 58 is of cross section corresponding to the crosssection of this device and of slightly larger dimension so that it isslidably retained therein. The material of the back-up block 50 ispreferably of a semi-rigid foamed polymer composition of such naturethat adequate resiliency is present to retain the back-up block 50 inthe position in which it is set. The base 52 of the back-up block 50 isformed at an angle with respect to the general longitudinal axis of. thedevice and is of such angle as to hold the photo mounting corners 48 ata proper angle so that they fit within the device. When the device isfilled with photo mounting corners, they are held therein by means ofcompression between the stop 22 and the back-up block 50. Since the stop22 engages with a single thickness portion of the photo mounting corners48, the resiliency thereof due to the curling of this portion iscompressed and the double thickness portion with the photo corner pockettends to fan out as shown in FIGURE 6. Thus the angle of the stop 22 andthe ends of the flanges 44 and 46 is more acute with respect to the axisof the device than the face 52 of the back-up block 50. As photomounting corners are used out of the device, the natural curl in thesingle thickness portion of the corners causes the stack to expand andto keep the space filled. This expansion function is aided by the angleat which corners lie in the device. After a number of the corners areused, the back-up block may be pushed forward toward the stop 22 torecompress the corners, as desired.

In use the combined mounter and dispenser for photo mounting corners isheld in one hand and a photo on which the corners are to be mounted isheld in the other, as is shown in FIG. -8. The corner of the photo isinserted into the pocket in the photo mounting corner. While the photomounting corner is retained in the device, the flanges 44 and 46 retainthe photo mounting corner within the device and prevent any substantialangular motion along the generally longitudinal axis of the device. Thusmotion of the photograph is able to square the mounting corner thereon.When the mounting corner is properly in place, further force pulls thecorner out of the device and the next moves in to position ready foruse. Thereupon the photo is moved a quarter turn and a new corner isinserted in the pocket of the new photo mounting corner. As the photomounting corners are depleted, the back-up block 50 is thrust forward tokeep compression on the stack of photo mounting corners within thedevice. Accordingly, ease of handling and saving of time is accomplishedby the use of this device. It can be seen from the above descriptionthat alternatively from being made from a blank of card stock, thedevice can be injection molded or otherwise created from polymercomposition material.

In the process of use of the dispenser for photo mounting corners, themounting corners 48 are first oriented, as is shown in FIG. 6, so thatthey all face the same way. After they are so oriented, they are placedin the dispenser in such a manner that the points of the photo mountingcorners 48 are directed downward into the angular juncture between bases32 and 34. After the photo mounting corners 48 are placed in thedispenser from the rear end thereof, the back-up block 50 is insertedand is pressed forward so that the angular face 52 thereof urges thephoto mounting corners 48 against stop 22. They are urged forward tosuch an extent that the curling of the corners is somewhat straightenedout so that the stack of photo mounting corners have natural resiliencyurging the first one to be dispensed against stop 22. In this way thecorners are resiliently urged against stop 22, which is angular. This,plus the angulari-ty of the face of block 50 causes the photo mountingcorners to lie at an angle within the dispenser. Furthermore, whencompressed in this manner, with the curled adhesive edges somewhatstraightened out, the pointed edge which contains the photo cornerpocket is somewhat thicker. Thus, the angularity of stop =22 isappropriate for this angularity. Furthermore, since the flanges '44 and46 extend beyond the plane of stop .22, they restrain the first photomounting corner, which is in an accessible position for mountingon thephoto, from easily slipping out from underneath stop flange 22. Thisamount of restraint is sufficient to permit the corner of a photo to beinserted in the photo mounting corner while it is still in thedispenser. However, further force slides the first photo mounting cornerout of the dispenser 'while it is on the corner of the photo. Thus, thecorners are quickly and accurately applied.

From the above specification it is apparent that this invention iscapable of numerous modifications and variations without the exercise ofinventive talent. Accordingly, the invention is defined by the scope ofthe following claims.

I claim:

1. A dispensing device, said dispensing device comprising:

a tubular dispenser, said tubular dispenser having a front end fromwhich elements are dispensed and a rear end, said tubular dispenserbeing defined by a top, first and second sides arranged at substantiallyright angles with respect to said top and first and second basesrespectively angularly oriented with respect to said tfirst and secondsides, said first and second bases being positioned at substantiallyright angles with respect to each other;

said front end of said dispensing device comprising a stop extendingfrom said first side to said second side, said stop being angularlypositioned with respect to said top, said angular stop defining a stopplane at which elements within said tubular dispensing device :arestopped, said first and second bases extending past said stop plane sothat elements to be dispensed are restrained by said angular stop andare engaged against said bases beyond said stop plane as the elementsare moved out from under said angular stop in the dispensing operation.

'2. The dispensing device of claim :1 wherein a backup block ispositioned within said tubular dispenser, said back-up block engagingagainst said top, said sides and said bases, said back-up block having aface directed toward said front end of said dispensing device, said faceof said back-up block being angularly positioned with respect to saidtop and being angularly positioned with respect to said stop.

3. A process for restraining and dispensing photo mounting corners witha dispenser for photo mounting corners, which dispenser 'has an axisgenerally aligned with the direction of movement of photo mountingcorners toward the dispensing end of said dispenser, comprising thesteps of:

orienting the photo mounting corners so that they are all arranged inthe same orientation;

retaining the photo mounting corners in the dispenser in such a mannerthat they are prevented from angular rotation about the axis of thedispenser and in such a manner that one photo mounting corner isavailable and accessible for mounting;

compressing the photo mounting corners so that the normal resiliency ofthe photo mounting corners urges the photo mounting corners toward theend of the dispenser from which they are to be dispensed;

holding one edge of the oriented photo mounting corners by a stop insuch -a manner that the photo mounting corners lie at an angle withinthe dispenser and are prevented from being discharged out of thedispensing end thereof;

and restraining the photo mounting corners against the edge holding stopwhile the corner of a photo is being inserted in the photo mountingcorner closest to the dispensing end of the dispenser.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Lorber 22\1--279King 221-56 X Amerslav 221-59 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany.

Great Britain. Great Britain. Great Britain.

1. A DISPENSING DEVICE, SAID DISPENSING DIVICE COMPRISING: A TUBULAR DISPENSER, SAID TUBULAR DISPENSER HAVING A FRONT END FROM WHICH ELEMENTS ARE DISPENSED AND A REAR END, SAID TUBULAR DISPENSER BEING DEFINED BY A TOP, FIRST AND SECOND SIDES ARRANGED AT SUBSTANTIALLY RIGHT ANGLES WITH RESPECT TO SAID TOP AND FIRST AND SECOND BASES RESPECTIVELY ANGULARLY ORIENTED WITH RESPECT TO SAID FIRST SECOND SIDES, SAID FIRST AND SECOND BASES BEING POSITIONED AT SUBSTANTIALLY RIGHT ANGLES WITH RESPECT TO EACH OTHER; SAID FRONT END OF SAID DISPENSING DEVICE COMPRISING A STOP EXTENDING FROM SAID FIRST SIDE TO SAID SECOND SIDE, SAID STOP BEING ANGULARLY POSITIONED WITH RESPECT TO SAID TOP, SAID ANGULAR STOP DEFINING A STOP PLANE AT WHICH ELEMENTS WITHIN SAID TUBULAR DISPENSING DEVICE ARE STOPPED, SAID FIRST AND SECOND BASES EXTENDING PAST SAID STOP PLANE SO THAT ELEMENTS TO BE DISPENSED ARE RESTRAINED BY SAID ANGULAR STOP AND ARE ENGAGED AGAINST SAID BASES BEYOND SAID STOP PLANE AS THE ELEMENTS ARE MOVED OUT FROM UNDER SAID ANGULAR STOP IN THE DISPENSING OPERATION. 